Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Lehigh County, defended her bill that would fine truck drivers for not cleaning off snow and ice from their vehicles after truckers criticized the proposed legislation Tuesday.
Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Lehigh County, has introduced a bill that would require truckers to make "all reasonable efforts" to remove all ice or snow from the vehicles or else be fined.
(Express-Times Photo | SUE BEYER)

The bill would require truckers to make "all reasonable efforts" to remove all ice or snow from the vehicles, including the roof of the truck trailer.

Police officers may pull over truck drivers if they believe the "ice or snow may pose a threat to persons or property," according to the bill. Truck drivers would face fines between $25 and $75.

PennLive interviewed a number of truckers who criticized the proposed bill when they stopped by the Pilot Travel Center in Harrisburg on Tuesday. Truck drivers said they didn't think it was safe for them to be climbing on top of their rigs to scrape off snow and ice.

Boscola said she doesn't want truck drivers to get on their roofs to clear off snow and ice from their vehicles.

There are enough devices and machines available to get snow off of the tractor-trailer roofs that truckers would never need to get up on top, she said.

"I don't want to hear the excuse anymore, 'I can't climb on top of my rig," she said. "That's old, outdated. They don't have to do that anymore."

Boscola said she first proposed the bill after one of her constituents was killed in 2005 when an "ice missile" fell off a tractor-trailer and struck her vehicle.

The bill was not passed, but a regulation was put in place that fined truckers only when dislodged snow and ice causes death or serious bodily injury.

Boscola said she hopes that fines would send a message to the trucking industry. Fines, she said, would help prevent accidents, like the one that killed her constituent, from ever happening.